Talking books are well known and generally include a plurality of pages of printed material, (i.e., pictures and/or text) and a plurality of voice chips selectively activated through a speaker by switches operable as the reader turns the pages to access the text.
Known talking books generally require separate audio units to be used in connection with the book, although self-contained talking books are also known. One such system is disclosed in U.S Pat. No. 4,752,230 which employs a rear cover mounted, push button panel such as generally found on a Touch-tone.RTM. telephone, in which the panel is accessible from all pages in the book through cut-outs in the pages. Another book such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,092 includes a back panel wherein all of the electronic components are mounted along with a plurality of switches which may be operated, the switches being operated through the pages by pressing predetermined marks on the various pages. Other books of this general type locate all of the audio components and switches in the margin on the inside of the back cover where they are accessible to the right of the pages in the book.
Difficulties arise in the operation of the switches through one or more pages of the book and/or the loss of surface area of the page which can be devoted to illustrations and/or text because of the cut-outs. In addition, the known talking books require that the reader risk a loss of continuity in the story by diverting attention from the material on the page to a separate audio unit.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to obviate many of the deficiencies of known talking books and to provide a novel talking book in which the switches that control the supplemental audiovisual components are carried by the page in locations consistent with the story printed thereon so that the reader need not risk the loss of continuity of the story in invoking the audiovisual effects.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel talking book in which the switches that control the supplemental audiovisual components are contained entirely internally of the pages of the book.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel talking book in which the supplemental audiovisual components carried externally of the pages are controlled by switches carried by the pages of the book.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel talking book in which supplemental visual components carried by the pages of the book are controlled by switches carried by the pages of the book.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel talking book in which supplemental audiovisual components and the printed materials are fully integrated.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel talking book in which the characters illustrated on the various pages may become the story tellers.
In addition, known talking books do not use illumination in connection with the audio components to supplement the story. It is accordingly a further object of the present invention to provide a novel talking book which selectively supplements the text by drawing attention to, or back-lighting, the illustrations and/or text of the story, thereby attracting and retaining the attention of young readers.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from a perusal of the claims when read in conjunction with the drawings and following detailed description.